


Too Late

by Sylv



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Drabble, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-03
Updated: 2012-12-03
Packaged: 2017-11-20 05:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/581663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sylv/pseuds/Sylv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They were used to being too late.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Too Late

_"If you're going to replace me, maybe I should just leave."_  
  
"Maybe you should."  
  
They didn't scream. They didn't throw things. That wasn't how they got when they were angry with each other. They stood with too much-- far too much-- distance in between them and with voices that were too quiet they spoke to each other.  
  
\--  
  
Kairi glanced around the classroom on her first day of kindergarten. She wasn't afraid; she was going out to make friends! The little redheaded girl had a plan, and it was a darn good one too:  
  
Find someone who looked nice, and sit next to them.  
  
Then they would be best friends.  
  
Kairi zeroed in on a small blonde boy who was sitting with his head bent intently over a piece of paper and a green crayon in his hand. She smiled brilliantly and marched over to him.  
  
"Hi!" she chirped brightly.  
  
He glanced up at her. "Hi,"  
  
"I'm Kairi! What's your name?"  
  
"Roxas," he told her.  
  
"Okay, Roxas," Kairi grinned, taking her backpack off of from her shoulders. "I'm going to sit here, and we're going to be best friends."  
  
Roxas blinked at her. "Sorry," he said. "But someone else is already sitting here." He pointed at a tall boy with fiery red hair who was scowling deeply at their teacher.  
  
"Oh..." Kairi dragged her bag along the floor to another seat, dropping into it glumly and sighing deeply. That wasn't a great start to the day.  
  
\--  
  
Despite that minor setback, Kairi and Roxas grew close, helped by the fact that she lived one street over from him and they could see each other almost every day.  
  
Kairi's feet pounded on the sidewalk, and she turned up the walkway, leaping agilely onto the front porch. Breathing heavily, she pushed the doorbell three times and waited for someone to open it.  
  
Someone did. It was Roxas' mother, who smiled down at her. "Yes, Kairi, can I help you?"  
  
"Can Roxas come out and play?" she asked, clasping her hands behind her back.  
  
"Oh, honey, I'm sorry. But Roxas needs to eat dinner and finish his homework. Tomorrow he can play if it's right after you get home from school, okay?"  
  
"Okay. Fine."  
  
\--  
  
"Roxas!" came the shriek.   
  
Kairi barreled into him at the speed of light and threw her arms around his neck is a rib-cracking hug. "Roxas!" she yelled into his ear, making him wince. "Why didn't you tell me that you're in the top five in the school for the essays?"  
  
He chuckled at her and hugged her back. "I was going to, but I hadn't seen you yet. I was just telling Axel when you decided to try your hand at murder-by-hug."  
  
His best friend immediately let go of him and eyed him with a look that he couldn't decipher. "You... told Axel first?"  
  
"Yeah," Roxas gave her an odd look, and she shook her head, hitching her smile back on to her face.   
  
"I'm so happy for you!"  
  
\--  
  
"Hey, I'm Sora. Guess I'll be sitting next to you, huh?"  
  
Kairi almost stopped him. She almost told him that Roxas always sat next to her in math. She almost was very, very rude.  
  
"Yeah, I guess. I'm Kairi."  
  
He smiled.  
  
\--  
  
"Since when have you and Sora been going out and you didn't tell me?"  
  
Kairi looked up from her lunch to see an irritated Roxas slam his tray down onto the table. She shrugged, "It's not that big of a deal."  
  
Liar.  
  
Roxas looked like he was about to say something, but thought better of it. Repressed, quiet, disappointed. It was amazing how alike they were.  
  
\--  
  
"I'm moving."  
  
"What?" Kairi gasped into the phone, nearly dropping it.  
  
He hung up.  
  
\--  
  
She ran to his house, just like she used to do all the time when she was younger. Her breath caught in her throat, and her chest was burning, but she kept moving her legs, faster, faster, faster.  
  
They weren't there.  
  
Kairi held herself, shivering in the warm breeze that blew across her skin. She stared at the dark windows and the 'sold' sign in the front yard.  
  
She was too late to tell him that she loved him.  
  
But she was used to being too late.


End file.
